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Ferryn carried me into a cave that was already outfitted with a blue-coal fire and a pallet on the floor. There was also the stump of a log on its side, like a table set next to the pallet, with a vial set on it. The liquid in the vial was deep purple, even by the light of the blue coal-fire. He had prepared this place to bring me here.
What in all the hells was he planning?
There was soft rustling in one top corner of the cave. A hive of bats clustered on the ceiling, some dangling upside down, others moving restlessly on a rocky ledge. Their eyes glittered silver-blue. Dozens blinked down at me, their ears and black wings tipped with yellow. Banshee bats. I’d heard of them but had never seen them.
Then I saw Dalya, her gray skin pale as the moon, walking not far behind with a satchel on her shoulder. It was the bag she had at Ferryn’s tent when he was wounded. It would be filled with bandages, oils, and ointments to work with her healing magick. But none of us was injured. She met my gaze with overwhelming fear tightening her features, her mouth a grim line.
“What are you going to do?” I asked him, my voice a soft tremble.
He didn’t answer as he laid me down on the pallet.
Dalya froze when she saw the vial on the log. “Ferryn. What is that tincture?”
I sat up, pushing my back to the cave wall that the thick covering of blankets was jutted up against. My feet wereunbound, but I was also sluggish from being hit so hard in the head. Pain throbbed at my temple, and I could feel a slight wetness on my cheek. Blood.
“What do you think?” he snapped.
She shook her head. “You can’t do that. It could kill her.”
He grabbed her by the wrist and jerked her toward him. “Not the right amount, it won’t. Just the child.”
Horror unfurled with sharp claws sinking deep. Poison.
“No.” Dalya shook her head. “You can’t do that.”
Ferryn scoffed like her protests were annoying. “I’ll hold her down, and you give her just enough to kill the babe.” Then he let go of her arm and cupped her face like a lover. “I can’t plant my heir in her with my brother’s still inside her.”
“Your brother?” The question slipped from my lips as my breathing became labored from cold panic taking hold of me.
He continued to stare at Dalya, who visibly trembled in his grip, but he spoke to me. “Half, actually. We shared the same father, which gives me the right to sit on the throne of Näkt Mir. I’ve always known I was meant to.” With chilling tenderness, he wiped the tears streaming down Dalya’s face with the pads of his thumbs. “On her deathbed, our mother forbade us to tell anyone who our father was. A good son keeps his promises. But that didn’t mean I would ignore my destiny. Isn’t that right, Dalya?”
She wrapped her hands around his wrists. “Please don’t do this, Ferryn. I’ll do anything you ask. Just not that.”
“Oh, sweetness.” He chuckled and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I won’t forget about you.” Then he gazed into her eyes and said softly, “I’ll still keep you. I know that you love me.”
She sobbed, and I heard in that tender cry that she did, indeed, love him. Even while he spouted the most despicable things to her.
“You’ll be my first concubine next to my mizrah. I promise.” Then he dropped his hands from her face and turned tolook at me. A myriad of emotions tightened his hard gaze—determination, excitement, lust. “But she is marked by Gozriel.”
His gaze shifted to my black wings. Unlike the times Goll had looked at them in a similar fashion, his attention repulsed me so much I wanted to hide them from him.
“She is marked as the divine mizrah, and so she must bear my heir.”
I swallowed the lump of fear lodged in my throat, but I refused to cry. I refused to give in to any form of despair. There was no way I was going to allow him to murder the child growing inside me. I hadn’t been certain this babe truly existed until very recently, and yet, I loved him or her with my whole heart. This was complete madness, and whatever was driving Ferryn reeked of evil.
“Oh, don’t worry, my love,” Ferryn told me with true sincerity as he knelt on the pallet, taking my bound hands in his. His eyes appeared near black now, those strange striations having splintered to swallow his irises almost entirely. “The pain will be little. And Dalya will ensure you heal quickly.”
“She won’t be able to travel.” Dalya’s voice shook.
“She’ll have to. But we’ll rest in a few days at my home in Belladum as planned.”
“King Goll will be looking for her. He’ll find you there.”
“Good.” He grinned at me, his fangs flashing menacingly. “My wights and I will be ready for him.” He caressed his thumb over the back of my hand. “By then, his babe will be dead, and his mizrah will be officially mine.”
I flinched, but he gentled his hold on my hands and his voice. “Don’t worry, dear Una. I’ll give you a new babe soon enough. You won’t even miss this one.” Then he flashed his fangs again and stood to face Dalya. “Set up whatever you need. We need to give her the hemlock now so it has time to work.”
Dalya shook her head. “I can’t, Ferryn.”
